Wednesday, July 30, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - He is definitely one of the founding fathers of (UK) DUB and
there is so much more that can be attributed to the works of Neil Fraser better
known as The Mad Professor. From his London-based ARIWA
Studio's to the world (wide web), it's impossible to count the works that this
genius has released throughout the decades. The Dubroom's rather large number of
reviews of Mad
Professor's albums covers only a small portion of his work. A -rather
personal- review by the Dubroom editor.

When he was a young child, he had more than an average interest in electronic
devices. Perhaps it came through an interest he had, as he reportedly asked his
mother who that little man in the radio actually was. Whatever it was, a strong
determination and even more efforts led him to start his own recording studio in
his home in London, where he recorded the Punk band Ruts DC and also started
recording Reggae music.

dub me crazy

Gradually, he became known and this got a real boost with the introduction of
his now standard listening material for anyone even remotely into DUB and far
beyond that: the DUB ME CRAZY series. Almost single-handedly, he took what was
then (early 1980's) a fading trend in Jamaica and popularized it in the UK,
Europe and the rest of the planet eventually. The creativity and, yes, without
apology, genius mind of the Mad Professor was captured in these early releases
and has never disappointed throughout the decades that followed.

It was during these days, that yours truly as a teenager had discovered the
sound of DUB and after buying several chapters of the DUB ME CRAZY series phoned
the number that was printed on the record sleeves. The Mad Professor took like
half an hour, just to talk with this Dutch teenager that was "dubbed
crazy". A memory that is precious and a half hour that turned out decisive.

dub, lovers' rock and roots daughters

Good vibes and always a place for known and unknown musicians and vocalists.
Back in the days of MP3.com, several artists had a Dub of their music mixed by
the Mad Professor. In the same time, he recorded Reggae Greats like Yabby You
and Michael Prophet and
created more essential Dub listening like New
Decade of DUB with JAH Shaka.

Legendary for his DUB, another side of Mad Professor is his many Lovers' Rock
releases. Lover's Rock is a very sweet, silky form of Reggae to which the UK
seems to have some kind of signature and ARIWA plays -just like with that other
trademark UK DUB- a central role. Usually, slackness is far away with Lovers'
Rock and it's absolutely gone with the ROOTS DAUGHTERS that Mad Professor
recorded and released. His recordings with singers like AISHA
have reached classic status.

massive attack and the orb

ARIWA has not just recorded Reggae Music of the highest kind. Mad Professor
has made a rather classic remake of Massive Attack's album No Protection, the
ORB used his recordings with AISHA, and that's just two examples from the
1990's.

thief can't hold him

He got an enormous blow when it turned out that in spite of the good and
necessary vibrations produced in Ariwa studio, some wicked person(s) decided to
become a thief in the night and robbed
everything. A wicked, wicked thing indeed which too not just a lot of time
from Mad Professor and his Ariwa crew. Fortunately he regained his desire to
share his music with the rest of mankind and we are now obviously at the point
where ARIWA is the name for one of the essential sounds of Roots Reggae that is
present in this time.

reel to reel reggae

With the rise of the computer and other digital technology came the rise of
computer-based music. After the initial time it took to overcome prejudice,
computer-based music is now considered to be equal to that which is not directly
programmed into a Pentium or what have you. Mad Professor released the second
volume of "Reel
To Reel Reggae", an excellent sample series for producers which is
purchased, reviewed and used by the Dubroom.

WWW,
July 2014 - They have absolutely
nothing to do with (DUB) Reggae as far as
the online information gathered for this
review has shown, but that doesn't really
mean anything as far as (DUB) Reggae goes. A
little cryptic perhaps, but nevertheless
quite accurate when it comes to the three
free female vocal packs reviewed in this
article.

When King
Tubby started to develop the Art of DUB, he
started a technique that would be
incorporated in just about every electronic
musical genre you can think of, from Hip Hop
to EDM.
A few styles like Dubstep or Drum 'n' Bass
even have Reggae phrases incorporated in
their names. This mere fact alone completely
justifies and explains why it could be
interesting for your online (DUB) Reggae
producer to browse a little bit through
sample sites aimed at producers of EDM.

One aspect
of Electronic Dance Music is the use of
female vocals, very similar to the way
vocals are used in Dub: lyrics, words, lines
and adlibs drop in and out at strategic
moments in the mix. This opens up a door of
possibilities for the producer of DUB and
even your non-DUB Reggae, because the
availability of vocal packs for EDM
producers is pretty wide.

For this
review, we take a look at three different
female vocal packs. The packs can be
downloaded for free and they include a
license for use in your productions, even
commercial releases are possible. One nasty
point: one of the packs can only be
downloaded by registered members of Facebook
but then you could get a friend who is
registered at that website to do it for you.

All three packs contain a really
impressive set of vocal lines, phrases and
adlibs. They
also contain lines and phrases that you
might not want to use: slackness is easy to
extract but then, slackness is always an
easy road. In the same time, slackness is
such a thing where a self-inflicted
blind spot usually functions very well. In
fact, such a blind spot in necessary for all
conscious artists wherever they perform or
produce so let's
take-this-truth-to-be-self-evident.

The samples
come with information about pitch and BPM
included in the filenames and folders, some
are dry and others come with effects. The
effected samples can easily be incorporated
in an already existing tracks you might have
made, the influence of DUB is not just undeniable
present, these are dubbed
vocals.

When used
with care and respect for the singers, the
way it should be done anywhere and
everywhere, are -literary- priceless
additions to your sound library. They can
add an extra dimension to your track(s), and
-depending on your creativity- that extra
dimension does not have to be a "techno
vibe" or something like that.

Just
listen to the following 30 seconds of so
with a Dubroom riddim and two vocal lines
from the Sample Radar packs:

That's just two lines out of really
hundreds that you can pick and insert.
Creative minds will probably hear their own
riddim behind it. Or take this track
featuring two lines taken from AIVA's pack
(among other things described here):

You can even say that just these two lines
give a very special and atmospheric elements
to the riddim, even an identifiable element
in the sense that the lines keep ringing in
your head after the track is done.

Three
excellent vocal packs, well, more than
excellent. These are very talented and
skilled singers that control their voice in
an impressive way. When done respectfully,
the samples can bring your riddim(s) further
without dragging everything into slackness
or other evidently cheap abuse of the female
part of our human race.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - Contemporary Jamaican Reggae, with Junior Kelly riding the
smooth riddim alongside backing vocals and a well worked out arrangement is
something we can only thankfully... receive. As far as we could tell, the track
was released on 7"
vinyl in Jamaica and is now also available for free download at Junior
Kelly's Reverb Nation page.

Junior Kelly shows just how versatile he is. A heavyweight Roots Rasta track
or a more smooth one like this: he is perfectly able to voice the riddim and
share a good vibration while doing so. Download "Receive" and while
you're at his page at Reverb Nation, consider buying a track or two more.

WWW, July 2014 - Junior Kelly's life hasn't been easy. Born and raised in
Kingston, he saw his older brother -a DJ for Kilimanjaro Sound System- brutally
murdered. That's right, and on top of that his brother was the primary source of
income for the whole family. He was also the example for his younger brother,
who since then has been working hard to spread a positive message as a vocalist.

Knowing about this background of Junior Kelly can only lead you to a deep
sense of respect for the Jamaican singer. Someone who does not turn to violence
and criminality but instead uses music and spirituality is -or should be- an
example to many. His affiliation is with the House of the Bobo Shanti and thus
with artists like Capleton and Sizzla, but musically he takes a different
direction and with that, he appeals to ones who prefer their Reggae sung rather
than chanted over.

Monday, July 28, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - Ras Khaleel actively started voicing in the year 1999 and
has been riding many riddims ever since. His talented, skilfull voice is
versatile and of a consistently high quality. His faith in Jah is one of his
main inspiration sources and that can instantly be felt in the heart. Download
some of his musical tunes from REVERBNATION.com and the Dubroom's music carrying
his voice and you will not be disappointed. Instead, you will be encouraged.

Often compared to Luciano, a definitive fact is that Ras Khaleel knows how to
deliver a conscious message as well as a more lighter thing like a lover's tune.
Never losing dignity or consciousness, he is definitely an example to just too
many vocalists doing the slackness thing.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - Voicing with one of the heaviest UK Sound Systems (Iration
Steppas) is a heavyweight job. Almost as heavy as the bass going through the
many speakers of the sound. You need to have the right voice, the right words
and the right attitude. Dan Man has it all and some of this is captured in RASTA
VOCAL SAMPLES.

First things first: do not just go by the names and here is why. When you
check the reviews of Sound System Vocals Parts one,
two and three,
you will find out that the material featured in these packages are applicable in
much more than "just" a Sound System or DJ live set. Since the Dubroom
released several full lyrical tracks from the material, that's an easily
establishable fact.

When you read "Rasta Vocal Samples", you do -unlike with the name
of the previously mentioned products- expect more than material for a live Sound
System or DJ-set and yet it takes a lot of work to get there. In other words,
this is not your primary vocal package when you are looking for material to make
full length Reggae tracks. There is simply not enough variation and material in
general to construct a sensible lyrical track. Possibilities will not be more
than a few lines.

In fact, the main focus of RASTA
VOCAL SAMPLES is not the producer of Reggae or even DUB. This is definitely
a product that should be considered first and foremost by owners of Sound
Systems, virtual online or in the Outernet. The major part of the pack contains
shouts and short phrases which will -when placed strategically- give an extra
touch to your selection without the shadow of a doubt.

Unfortunately, it has a part reserved for your typical Sound Clash phrases:
"killing soundboys" and stuff like that. Not directly something to put
in your righteous Roots track, and even a bit outdated as the vibe in Roots land
is more and more that of One Love instead of clashing. It could be that the
producers of RASTA
VOCAL SAMPLES have focused a bit too much on other forms of music, music
where Sound Clashes may very well be popular. The fact that there is a part two,
not with Dan Man, which will not be reviewed in the Dubroom doesn't promise too
much good either.

Fortunately, you can just choose to ignore the verbal violence since there is
more than enough material left. Especially when you've already purchased Sound
System Vocals Parts one,
two and three
at LOOPMASTERS.com and
have not spent the virtual cash you own with each purchase, the few euro's or
pounds or dollars it costs will definitely provide you with a valuable addition
to your vocal sound library.

For DJ's and Selectors, this product is definitely recommended. Producers of
DUB will also benefit from the material as there are many short phrases, shouts
and even a few singing lines you can use. RASTA
VOCAL SAMPLES is all about the music, about original music and about spicing
up the music. This is a spice that gives a Jamaican flavor to non-Reggae tracks
and adds some thrill and excitement on top of Roots Reggae riddims.

Friday, July 18, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - Twelve selections directly from the enormous catalogue of
Don "Rootsstep" Goliath, who was recently
reviewed and interviewed in the Dubroom. Twelve selections of pure niceness
for the lover of Roots Reggae and Dubstep alike, an enormous accomplishment in
itself. It's yours for free!

According to the folks at LCLWEB, the Net Label responsible for this 12-pack
of digital roots niceness, it wasn't that easy to pick twelve tracks and we here
at the Dubroom can only have empathy for that. When you love this sound, you
just can't get enough of them and since the quality of the music is rather
consistent, you just want it to play on and on. Well, we can do that for a full
50 minutes long at least, thanks to what must have been days of choosing time.

It's truly incredible to see just what Don Goliath has produced just the last
1 1/2 year or so. In spite of his name, this one Goliath has nothing against Jah
and even more, he is active in spreading JAH Music into this next century and
generations with his unique sound. It's a sound that many will say is "Dub
Step" and not just because of the four-letter word in the term Roots Step.
However, this is Reggae and it is even Roots Reggae.

Reggae is a rhythm that one can play in many styles. Roots Reggae is a rhythm
and a vibe that one can play in many styles as well. Yes, it is a big mistake to
look at Reggae as a genre of music. It's not. It can be that old Studio One
Sound, it can be the 21st Century Rootsstep Sound, but it remains to be the same
rhythm. This, in a nutshell, is Don Goliath's Rootsstep Sound.

This is a sound that will appeal to lovers of Dubstep and it will appeal to
more open-minded lovers of Roots Reggae too.

This is a sound that gets the support from a whole army of well-known
vocalists like U Roy, featured on this album. Not without reason, for what it
shows is that the sound might change throughout the generations, the message
does not and the music does not.

This is a sound that you should check out and support, when you are
positively interested in the promotion of (DUB) Reggae and Consciousness. You
will find many, many conscious messages throughout the 24 chapters. Messages
that need to be heard by every generation. RIGHT-CLICK
HERE for a legal mixtape of the album straight from the Don's
website or better: CLICK
HERE FOR ITUNES.

Monday, July 14, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - French speaking/reading? It's not everybody's ability
but in days of Google Translate it is possible to check out a website even when
you don't read the language. In this case, a website that does make you
positively envious at those who don't need such a tool because of the wealth of
information alone. Presenting CULTURE DUB presenting the dynamic French
DUB/Reggae scene!

It's a label. It's a Radio Show. It's even a stricktly vinyl show that's
recorded on video. It's an ongoing series on the history of DUB Music. It's
filled with reviews of new releases and updates about upcoming live events. It's
a website. It's in French. For the French speaking and based tribe of DUB. A
very vibrant and active part of Europe when it comes to the Roots Dub Reggae
scene. On the Internet for example, where French based Net Labels are no
minority.

This is the situation where we find the website CULTURE DUB and the first
thing that comes to mind is: heavyweight, both in quantity as well as quality.
The webmaster is writing an ongoing sequel about l'histoire de Dub, for example.
That's not to hard to translate, right? The title that is. You shouldn't judge a
book by it's cover, but this looks pretty academic and therefore in-depth.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - In this May 2014 release from the Maltese Net Label DUB KEY,
we are getting introduced to Singer Tempa inna Showcase Stylee! UK DUB and Roots
Reggae as authentic as it can be, from the top to the very last (DUB) drop.
Skillfully played by the MessenJah Music Players, mixed by Apocalypse Dub
Faction's Rod Chaplin, and skillfully voiced by a veteran in conscious Roots
Reggae. Read on and download this gem for free!

First things first: this is Singer Tempa's debute album. He is the house MC
for the Lion Heart Sound System, while he voices for MessenJah as well. Yes, he
is based in the UK where a culture of Roots Reggae Sound Systems dates back
decades. It is in this culture that Singer Tempa was born and where he grew his
vocal talents by continually performing with sounds.

"Cut More Collie" is a ShowCase album. You will get the vocal
tracks but the dub versions as well. Niceness fe true. Four vocals, four dubs,
one Discomix long. Everything in the UK Roots and DUB Tradition, which simply
means a massive piece of work that cannot be absent in your collection of better
and higher quality free/legal DUB Reggae Music.

Friday, July 11, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - The first thing you
should avoid is to take the title of this EP serious. You should take the name
Bryan Art serious, though, and the four excellent musical works of this release
even more. Why? Well, that's the four dollar question you will see answered in
this review of Fresh Start, the EP.

First, the music. Four excellent contemporary
Jamaican Roots Reggae tracks, perfectly recorded into the multitrack by Bryan
Art's FILE13 Band. This is the kind of Roots Reggae that counters the slackness
and emptiness that is the majority of (Jamaican) Dancehall. This is the kind of
Jamaican Music that brings blessings to the whole world.

With special appearances by none other than
Sizzla and Queen Ifrica accompanying his evidently talented and skilled voice,
"Fresh Start" is an essential introduction to this multi-tasker in
Reggae Music as well. The name Bryan Art, namely, should need no introduction
and the fact that it might is a shame. So in a way, Fresh Start is a proper
title. It's a fresh start for us as listeners, a fresh chance to get ourselves
familiar with this very interesting brethren.

Bryan Art is a guitar player, song writer, band
leader, and a singer. Among other things. He has toured all over North America
and Europe, sometimes as part of a backing band and sometimes in a different
setting. He has been the guitar player of the Fire House Crew, that is King
Tubby's House Band personally formed by the Godfather of Dub himself, band
leader for Bushman's backing band, the list goes on and on. The music of this
Art is not to be ignored or underestimated!

So, what's this with a four-dollar question?
Isn't that just a tip on a meal? Well, yes. It's also the price you pay for the
four excellent musical works when you CLICK
HERE. Get your Fresh Start now and if you must, you can also listen to
this quartet of excellency before you do below.

Friday, July 4, 2014

WWW, JULY 2014 - In what could very well be the first review of the product,
we take a look at Mad Professor's Reel to Reel Reggae Part Two as it was just
released by Loopmasters. They've been visiting the Professor in his Ariwa studio
once again and came back with some very, very interesting material. Read all
about it, at least download a demo for free and find out how your productions
can be served and improved by the package.

Without a doubt, part two goes further than it's predecessor. It has several
things that you could only crave for and probably did, which gets clear at the
beginning. So let's start there. Unlike part one, you can choose to buy certain
segments rather than the whole pack which can come in handy when you're not able
to purchase everything in one go or when you're simply just interested in
certain aspects. Here they are:

Drum Loops

Bass Loops

Music Loops

One Shots (with sampler patches)

For this review (and of course for the Dubroom's musical productions) we've
purchased the Music Loops and the One Shots. For the drum and the bass, we
simply took a listen to the streaming demo's and dived in the downloadable 55 Mb
free demo pack. In the the knowledge that we're dealing here with stuff from Mad
Professor's Ariwa Sound Studio, and with reference to Part
One, we find ourselves having a solid foundation for our examination.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

WWW, July 2014 - During these last months, the Dubroom has been releasing new
original music in a new original sound. This music has been put on the Dubroom
website, and equally -without too much noise on the Dubroom about this- put on a
variety of sites that enable producers, artists and/or labels to present their
music online. Why? Just to see what these sites are doing in themselves for your
average online (DUB) Reggae artist. Messian Dread reports how over 10,000 of ads
on sites only led to 8 free downloads...

Let's call them free Online Music Distributors or OMD's for the sake of this
article, shall we? For that is what websites like SOUNDCLOUD, REVERBNATION and
others we're going to take a look at, actually do. You upload your MP3/WAV
file(s), some pictures and write a little bit of info and voila, there's your
page. Ready to be viewed by what many sites call "fans", your music
available for download and/or streaming and/or purchase.

This is exactly what I've been doing during these last months. I've been
uploading the new Dubroom music to a number of sites, just to see what would
happen. An experiment, of which some results are not yet available which in
itself makes a point. Yes, that first. There is no website that will instantly
give you "fans" or even views. You'll have to use the OMD's as part of
your own route, like they do with your music. You see them as distributor of
your music where they see you, us, as content provider for their websites.
Nothing wrong with that, but nothing to overlook either.

Indeed: gone are the days where just one website could boost an artist and
could even become a threat for established musical industrialists. Gone are the
days where you could reach out to that large audience by committing yourself to
one OMD. This here is a scattered Internet, where listeners have to look for the
good music using all kinds of websites and we, music creators, have to do the
same. We have to use all the websites or at least three or four, and we have to
have a website for ourselves as well. Even a facebook page won't do.

With all this in mind, I took a look at some websites. Just because I hadn't
released a track in years, even the websites where I already had an account
needed some serious work. It was kind of an opportunity to see the various
websites through the eyes of a new artist. Other websites needed me to make an
account, so there was my chance to get a quick discovery look at them. Here they
are, in a particular order:

Google+ Page

dubroomreviews.blogspot.com

Welcome to the Dubroom Reviews Weblog, where you can find reviews of the best (DUB) Reggae Music available online. We review albums, (freely) downloadable files, DVD's, online video's and more since 1997.

We'd like to know if you agree with our choice of reviews, so please rate them (you don't need to register for that)

Radio Dubroom Extra

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL DUBROOM WEBLOG

The Dubroom covers a large number of topics, that may not alltogether be of interest to all visitors and readers of the Dubroom website and/or weblogs. That is why we have several weblogs, each one having their own specific field of coverage.

Dubroom Online
This is the main weblog, where all new articles and reviews are posted together with columns and more from the Webmaster, (DUB) Reggae news and views as well as news concerning the Dubroom and the rest.

Babylon Observer
The latest Babylon Observer publications is posted along with interesting news items from other websites.

Center for Research on Christianity
News and views from the religious system we know as "Christianity", CRC items will be posted along with interesting news item from other websites.

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